The Konoha Ghost
by Deadworldnightingale
Summary: Humans are cruel, emotionless, and disgusting creatures. And if I had a choice I would never interact with them. However, when the boy looked up with big blue eyes, and quietly asked me if we were friends, I couldn't help but blurt out, "Of course!" I never wanted to be an older sister, but now that I am one there's no turning back. (Self-Insert OC)


**_I do not own Naruto._**

 ** _I only own my little Kaede._**

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 _December 18_ _th_ _, 1996_

' _It was raining when I died,'_ I idly mused as I watched the storm outside the window. The sound of soft snores filled the room, and I glance over at my roommates. The indulgent and soothing sound of the rain had been enough of a lullaby to coax the other children to sleep, but not me.

Insomnia had plagued my nights ever since I could remember. Even in my last life it had driven me to the brink of insanity, and it didn't get any better when I died. I thought when I was re-born that perhaps it would have gone away (a new body, a new problem right?) But I was instantly proven wrong when I was forced to stay awake in the orphanage's nursery all night long.

To be completely honest, I didn't want to be re-born. Life had been cruel to me in my previous life, and I had no desire to go through all of that pain again. The universe seemed determined that I would get another shot at life though, and _so here I was._

From what I had seen so far, this world was nothing like my own. In this world there was a natural energy that all living things had called chakra. I had yet to test it for its uses and disadvantages, but from the glimpses I had of it, chakra seemed to be a very useful tool. Half of my mind thought of joining the Academy for ninja just so I could learn to use it. And that brought me to my second point, this world was full of _ninja._ At first I thought it had been a joke, but then I realized they were real after I saw some ninja jumping from our orphanage roof.

Yes, in this new world I lived in an orphanage. Apparently whoever my parents were decided to abandon me at this orphanage in Konohagakure. Unlike many of the reincarnation films I had watched I didn't have my past memories from birth. They just sort of 'kicked in' once I turned one. So, I didn't remember who my parents were, or why they put me in the orphanage. I guess if I didn't have my past memories I would be sad, but it didn't matter to me as I had experienced much, much worse. I was no stranger to abandonment.

One of the kids near me tossed in their bed, and I snapped out of my thoughts.

I quietly sat up and got out of my bed. Laying and staring up at the ceiling wouldn't do me any good. I needed to get moving if I wanted to tire myself enough to sleep. At this rate I would even be happy for an hour of blissful sleep. As I sneaked out the room, I slightly glimpsed at the mirror on the wall. My long white hair fell to my shoulders, my pale skin looked like paper, and my dark brown eyes stared with an intensity normal four-year-old children didn't have. I shuddered when I took my eyes away from the mirror. I still didn't like looking at my new appearance. Besides the snow white hair, it didn't look too different from my old appearance.

I exited the room with a frown and went down the hallway. Silently, I wondered where I would go. If it hadn't been raining I would have probably sneaked up to the roof and watched the moon, but my choices indoors were highly limited.

Eventually, I settled with just walking around the orphanage. The rain drowned out the moonlight so the hallways and rooms were much darker than they would have been normally. I gave a sigh as my feet walked across the cold, wooden floorboards. It was in the winter, and while it didn't really get _too cold_ than Konoha it was still unpleasant without heating.

I strolled down the stairs and onto the first floor. From there I roamed into the kitchen, playroom, sitting room, and more. I made sure to be as quiet as I could since I was sure the caretaker, Kora-san, wouldn't be happy if she knew I was sneaking around. Soon enough, I end up in a hallway I've never seen before. I quietly wonder why it was marked 'staff only.' Being the rebel I was, I decided to sneak in it. I became lost in my thoughts as I walked down the passageway only to stop when I found myself in front of very ' _disturbing'_ door.

It was painted red, and had many curse words and derogatory terms scratched into its surface. These words ranged from things like, "Demon brat," to, "Just die already." To say I was ticked off at whoever made such words would be an understatement.

I hated bullies with a passion. In my last life they were the bane of my existence.

They had spread rumors about me sleeping with all of the teachers, and about how I didn't talk to anyone because I thought they were better than me. And thanks to those rumors, nobody wanted to be my friend. But at some point I became okay with that. Being abandoned and ignored wasn't a big deal to me. _It wasn't as if I needed anyone else to be happy._ In fact, I was alone in almost all of my past life, and it came to a point where I actually preferred it. People were complex things that I didn't understand, and I didn't understand them enough to converse with them.

Eventually people started calling me 'The Ghost Kid,' since I constantly avoided everybody. At first it was just a simple nickname, but after a few months it morphed into a more insulting word.

But that was _in my past life_ , so there was no point thinking about it right now.

At the current moment, I stared at the door with slight hesitation. Should I knock on it? Was anybody even inside of the room? I moved closer to inspect it when I heard small sobs coming from the inside. The worry in my stomach deepened, and I wondered what this orphanage was hiding. I swallowed my uncertainty, and quietly knocked on the door. I tried to be soft enough where the workers wouldn't hear it, but loud enough where the person in the room could. A quick gasp came from the other side of the door, and the sobs lessened. I heard something scrambled towards the door, and jumped back a bit when I saw the door open.

A blonde boy my age (four or so) peeked his head out, and I instantly wondered what a young child like him is doing all by himself. I remembered seeing him around the orphanage many times, but he usually only appeared for minutes before he vanished again. I had actually thought of approaching him before, but thought that he was just shy and didn't want to be friends. The boy's blue eyes widened when he saw me, and I quickly take in his appearance.

He was in scraggily clothing, way too big for his size, had messy blonde hair, whisker markings on his cheeks, and blue eyes that shined like the sky. His mouth was agape, and I realized that I must have startled the boy coming to his room so late at night.

"Um, who are you?" He asked with a sad frown.

"I'm Kaede," I said without emotion. "Who are you?"

"I-I'm Naruto," The boy hesitantly said, and out of the corner of my eye I saw bruises lining his arms. Anger bubbled up inside of me, and I wondered why the boy was being abused.

"Why were you crying?" I asked as I stuck my hands in my short's pockets. Naruto blushed, embarrassed that somebody had caught him sobbing, but he got over his embarrassment fairly quick.

"I hadn't seen anybody in days, so I was lonely." Naruto with a small sniff. I try to be sympathetic of his situation, _I really do._ But I had been in that situation way too many times to feel anything anymore. When I finally got diagnosed with Leukemia on Earth I had to go months in isolation. Eventually, the loneliness faded away, and I was left just feeling numb inside.

"Well, I'm awake, so I can talk to you until you fall asleep." I proposed looking at him with a small smile. "Can I come in?"

He nodded furiously, and threw the door open with a wide smile. "Nobody's ever came in my room before! So I'm sorry it's a bit of a mess."

"I don't mind," I said as I hopped over a small pile of torn clothes. Everything the young child had was torn or frayed in some way, and I was almost scared to ask him why he was being treated this way. Naruto, however, skipped around his room as if it was the happiest day in his life.

And sadly, for all I knew, it could have been.

"Why are you awake Kaede-chan?" Naruto asked flopping down on his bed. I sat on the floor beside it as I looked up at him.

"I have insomnia, which is a fancy way of saying I can't sleep at night." I said slowly as I remembered I was still talking to a child. Technically, I was a child as well, but mentally I was twenty years old so I didn't count it.

"Oh," Naruto said glumly not really sure how to respond to my statement. I internally frown as I try to think of some topics kids talk about. Like I had mentioned earlier I am terrible with social interaction. I don't understand why humans act the way they do, and can barely comprehend how to speak to them.

To me humans were creatures of anomalies. You could never pinpoint a correct answer with humans, and a good way how to talk to one person, would be completely wrong way to talk to another person. Each one was different and unique, and there were no shortcuts to finding out which type of person they were. In order to talk to a person, you had to learn more about them, and that required time and effort. _Time and effort I didn't have._

"What are you doing on the first floor Naruto-kun? Why don't you live upstairs like the rest of us?" I ask in the most childishly innocent way I can muster. Maybe I should have gone into acting in my first life?

"K-k-kora-san said that I'm not supposed to be around other children my age. That I'm a d-demon who doesn't deserve to have friends." Naruto said curling up in to a little ball. I see tears form in his eyes and I freeze. How was one supposed to comfort another person? Were there any words I was supposed to say in particular? What do I do?

More importantly-how do I get him to stop crying?

Clumsily, I stand up and slide onto the bed next to him. I shakily wrap my arms around his shoulders and I feel him tense up in my embrace. Honestly I was trying to follow my instincts, but I wasn't sure if what I was doing would help. Didn't one psychiatrist say that physical contact helped? Nervously I bit my lip. I wasn't sure how these 'emotional things' worked.

The only thing I cried from was from physical pain.

"I-I've never had a friend before," I said as I slightly shook. "Am I doing this right?"

Apparently those were the right words and Naruto suddenly hugs me back as he cries into my shoulder. I gape at the wall. How in the world did I get the word combination right? I've never been able to affect another person's emotional being before. I didn't even know how to talk to people. To me everything was about information, and I never understood how people became emotional once they heard certain words.

"Are we friends?" He asked quietly as he sobbed, and I freeze up again. I did mention being a friend in my previous statement. To be honest, it just sort of slipped out. Would it be acceptable to say yes? We had only just met after all. I didn't know anything about his likes, habits, or personality.

However, when I hear his shaky voice I immediately blurt out, "Of course."

This apparently is another set of magical words, as the boy sobbed even more into my shirt. I didn't know why I felt any need to help the boy. I didn't like humans. They only took and never gave anything back. Naruto though seemed to be an exception to this.

In the morning I vowed I would find out why this four-year-old was being mistreated, and I _would put a stop to it._ Why I didn't really care about Naruto or his feelings it was still very inhumane for him to be treated like this. I gave a soft sigh as he buried himself deeper in my arms. He looked so innocent and pure, and for a minute I decided it wouldn't hurt to become friends with the boy.

And that was how I, Kaede, met my first best friend, Naruto Uzumaki.

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 **A/N: I'm late jumping into the self-insert bandwagon, but I still did it. I've always heard from my friends how self-inserts was the 'sin' of fanfiction, and I think I made this one just to mess with them. It's kinda a short chapter, and the next one will be more interesting I promise.**

 **I was going to put more to this, but it became too long so I decided to split it up into two chapters. So I'll probably update tomorrow or the day after.**

 **If you see any mistakes don't feel hesistant to call them out.**

 **I'm really used to writing in 3rd POV, and so writing in 1st POV was going out on a limb for me. Hoped you like it. R &R.**


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